Brad Ottens: I needed to challenge myself to make a change

Three-time premiership ruckman Brad Ottens speaks to Shane Crawford and Nick Quinn about his stellar 245-game AFL career, which began when the Richmond Tigers drafted him with pick No. 2 in 1997 and ended with a third flag in his final game 14 years later. Ottens discusses his unique path to the AFL system; growing up in relative isolation in the Northern Territory before moving to South Australia, where he began taking up footy seriously at a boarding school. When the Tigers selected him and he was thrust into a locker room with “mega stars” like Matthew Richardson and Wayne Campbell, it all changed very quickly. In 2001, Mick Malthouse anointed him “the best player in the game”. Ottens had a close relationship with the late Danny Frawley, and shares a couple of priceless stories from their days at Tigerland. But as he struggled with consistency, he was eventually traded to the Geelong Cats for pick 12 and pick 16. And the rest is history: three flags and a crucial part in some all-time classics. This is an episode not to be missed.